YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND Women and Men in Conversation

ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER LIST FOR NEARLY FOUR YEARS, EIGHT MONTHS AT #1TRANSLATED INTO 31 LANGUAGES

A true cultural and intellectual phenomenon, this is the book that brought gender differences in ways of talking to the forefront of public awareness and catapulted Tannen onto the public stage.

As witty and entertaining as it is enlightening, this book shows why a woman and man can walk away from the same conversation with completely different ideas of what was said. Because boys and girls grow up in different worlds of words, talk between men and women can be like cross-cultural communication.

The original source of the truism that men don't like to stop and ask for directions, this book is studded with lively examples of real conversations that will leave you wondering whether Tannen was hiding in your living room or the back seat of your car. Understanding what goes wrong in conversations between women and men provides tools to find a common language and strengthen relationships at work and at home. You'll see why Tannen has received innumerable letters and emails saying, “Thank you for saving my marriage.”

PRAISE

“Deborah Tannen combines a novelist's ear for the way people speak with a rare power of original analysis. It is this that makes her an extraordinary sociolinguist, and her book such a fascinating look at that crucial social cement, conversation.”—Oliver Sacks“[A] refreshing and readable account of the complexities of communication between men and women [with] vivid examples and lively prose.” —New York Times Book Review“Tannen has a marvelous ear for the way real people express themselves, and a scientist's command of the inner structures of speech and human relationships ... A chatty, earnest, and endearing book that promises here-and-now rewards...” —Los Angeles Times